Ah, here you are! Welcome to the sixth garden of the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event tour. I hope you brought that bacon rind I mentioned in the previous post?
Right, strap in - here we go:
M I T Z I' S
Unnatural Beauty
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Hello Mr D, I hope I'm not too late for this year's garden extravaganza. Sadly I won't be able to reply to any comments as I'm going away tomorrow [Saturday 28th Oct - IDV], if you wouldn't mind letting the hoi polloi know, I would hate them to think of me as haughty.
Love Mitzi.
[Disregard the above: Mitzi's back off her hols now - IDV]
Something brown for Carmen's birthday. I came home one day to find a white carrier bag hung on the front door handle, inside was the above plant, a greetings card and a box of Beech's Rose and Violet creams *gags*
Dahlia Strawberry Ice (front garden). I was entertaining a gentleman caller one day so I sent the maid out to the garden centre, she came back with a Monkey Puzzle tree and some dahlia bulbs, for the first 2 years the flowers were very small and I didn't like them, however this year the flowers were massive, a whopping 10 inches. I don't overwinter them.
A childhood favourite of mine, Mesembryanthemums. As a child I would insist on them, mother would pick up a tray of the plug plants and take them to the counter to pay, with a look of disgust etched on her face, as if she was handling a tramp's cock. I grew some earlier this year for nostalgia, they're hideous! I didn't know it at the time but they're on the Bumblebee conservation trust's black list of plants to avoid.
Rose Bonsai above and after a light trim. Carmen said I'm unnatural, manipulating nature. Lemon trees grown from seed behind.
Panache fig produced its first fig this year. Highly scented, which is surprising because they don't produce flowers, so where does the scent come from? Sadly I didn't get to sample the fig, a squirrel got to it first.
Lady golfer going cheap in the sale at Hornsea garden centre. [?? - IDV]
Not my cat, it belongs to the Millers next door, it has a penchant for Carmen's bacon rind.
[I'm not sure if this was Mitzi's attempt at a wildlife photo? - IDV]
A big pink one!
The fir was in a very sorry state when I spotted it at the 'almost dead' discount shelf at B&M Bargains, I paid a princely sum of 25p. Now look at it.
Coleus neochilus (lobster flower) looks better in full bloom. A cutting I brought back from Spain seems to be thriving in the front garden, it started off as a house plant but the smell became unbearable so I evicted it.
Ivy cuttings I took from a nearby cemetery, coming along nicely. Monkey Puzzle looking like Miss Havisham in foreground covered in cobwebs.
Not looking its best. Taken 27/10/23. See the Snow in Summer near the seahorse? It has mice living in it, I'll have to move!
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Thank you, Mitzi, wherever you are! I hope you're having - or had - a wonderful time, just as we did on your gracious lānai while you were away.
The next garden on the tour will be Dinahmow's on Sunday, so be sure to pop back then for a gander. Or goanna, even!
What a lovely fushia and that two-tone trumpet flower are very nice! Yes, cats should be considered wild...life. They will never be as loyal as a dog and their intentions are somewhat suspicious. I hope you had fun wherever you were, Mitz!
ReplyDeleteCats drive me wild! I often see them doing their business in my garden, it doesn't matter how hard I bang on the window they still carry on regardless, it's like once they start they can't stop, oh, but they do stop when you lob tins from the kitchen cupboard at them.
DeleteI aim to miss (if that makes sense) I'm not that cruel.
DeleteI understand. Sometimes I have to clap at the deer who have become too familiar with me. They know I won't actually hurt them so they just amble off unrushed to see what else I got to pick from.
DeleteI'm planning to get one of those water guns to scare off the vermin - I'm going to be like a cross between "Robocop" and Angie Dickinson's "Police Woman"... Jx
DeleteOh, how I love a big pink one! And that dahlia! So lovely. I never think to take pics of ours. That cat looks exactly like Ocean, a neighborhood cat who I suspect has been abandoned. How did he get all the way to your backyard, I wonder? Hmm. He must have access to the internet! We have mice living in our backyard, too... beneath the offshoots of our lilacs. They come running out for the bird seed on the sidewalk. So cute. Lovely offering all around, Mitzi. A tip of the cap in your direction, my dear.
ReplyDeleteThank you uptonking, you're very welcome to come over and take Simba.
DeleteNothing wilts in Mitzi's fair hand does it? She brings everything to life - I site the big pink one as evidence of this. My fig dried up and fell off before I bothered with a photo, and I can't even blame the wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know how the Ivy on the fence will look in a couple of year's time and how Mitzi will feel about it! I also want to know if the lady golfer is still available.
Thank you for the tour, Mitzi!!
Sx
Rumour has it that Mr. DeVice's figs have also dried up and fallen off but don't quote me.
DeleteI also heard that rumour! Perhaps we can fix it with some superglue, or with a tube of No-Nails? Or maybe Mitzi or Maddie can lend a helping hand.
DeleteSx
I am in no position to either confirm or deny the aforementioned rumour.
DeleteAnd entirely apropos of nothing, I'm allergic to stapleguns...
Nuff said *snaps on surgical gloves* prepare for the superglue method!
DeleteSx
I hope you talc-ed the insides of those gloves first, Ms Scarlet? They'll be the very devil themselves to get off otherwise!
DeleteIf Mr DeVice ever needed anything, I am always here to lend him a hand, or a cheek, or leg, amongst other parts.
DeleteThank you Scarlet, I'm hoping to move down south in year or two, hopefully to Brighton, when I saw MJ's giant legs advertising Dukes Cinema I thought this is the place for me, but my maid of all work Carmen wasn't very struck of the place and an unhappy maid is a lazy maid, I don't know what to do, perhaps compromise with Eastbourne even though I've never been, is that the place where old people go to die?
DeleteYes, Eastbourne is God’s waiting room. It’s nearly as expensive as Brighton now though. There is also Worthing, which is where my aunt used to live, in a flat with a bedroom ceiling clad in mirrors.
DeleteSx
My legs really get around.
DeleteMiss Scarlet, it's up to you to superglue Mr. DeVice's figs back on. I wouldn't want to accidentally get stuck to his figs.
DeleteThe worst that will happen is that Mr Devine ends up with a fig and surgical glove arrangement. He’ll just have to pack it all away in his trunks and pretend it all belongs to him :-)
DeleteSx
Just how big is this "fig and surgical glove arrangement" going to be that it needs to be packed into trunks plural? The other boys will think I'm too posh and mollycoddled if I turn up on the first day at Boarding School with several trunks!
DeleteI've been exploring the south without leaving the house via Youtube, Cimbal Walk TV. I always thought Brixham where they filmed Fish Town would be a nice place to live but seeing it on Cimbal Walks it looks a bit rough, Clovelly looks lovely though, I would love to live in one of those fishermans cottages going down the cobble lane on my bike, looking for men. I think parking would be an issue. I will have a look at Worthing, then look on Rightmove to see how much properties are going for in that area. Do you have any photographs of your Aunt's Mirror clad ceiling? *purses lips* When I bought the property I'm currently living in, they had mirrored wardrobe doors the full length of the room.
DeleteThankfully there are no pictures of my aunts mirrors. I find that one vertical mirror in my bedroom is enough.
DeleteClovelly! I’ve had dreams of living there! I go there once a year to test that my legs can still make it up the hill. It’s a private village meaning that all the properties are rental - I think you have to bring some skills to the community before they will consider you as a resident - but during the summer months you’d have tourists peering through your windows - this may indeed work for you.
Worthing might seem boring after Brighton and Eastbourne. I also have dreams about very expensive houses on the river in Dartmouth, or Exmouth - dreams they will remain unless I win the lottery! Also, I take comfort in the knowledge that they’re likely to be damp and a bit mouldy.
Sx
See here for something of interest to add to the conversation. Jx
DeleteMitz, you had me at a whopping 10 inches!!!!
ReplyDeleteI just love your dahlia. I'm sure mine are not quite the size. A friend of mine has some that are a dinner plate sized. But it's the Mesembryanthemums that I really loved!!!! They are such happy cherry little flowers. Nice to see the seashorse again too.
Girth vs Length?
DeleteThe Brugmansia (the big pink one) is a massive foot long but it's not as girthy as the dahlia. The mesembryanthemums put on a lovely display, the above photograph was taken in late September when they wasn't looking their best.
Like Madds, I am very taken by the Mesembryanthemums. I've never heard of them, why are they so disdained by the gardening nabobs? They look sort of like plain old Osteospermum, but with prettier colors.
ReplyDeleteYes they are very similar to Osteospermum however Mesembryanthemums have succulent leaves that attracts slugs and snails, butterflies and bees won't go near them.
DeleteMy parents grew them in a hideous 70s rockery (well, it was the 70s - although it spilled into the 80s) and they fascinated me because they looked like coral. I used to like them because their fleshy leaves appeared to be studded with diamonds.
DeleteI'm not even going to ATTEMPT to pronounce Mesembryanthemums.
ReplyDeleteIf I find it difficult to pronounce a word I start at the end and break it up.
Deletemums
the mums
bryan the mums
Mesem bryan the mums
Good advice, Mitzi. That's the same method that I use for German words. Thank you.
DeleteA fab array of blooms, Mitzi! Love the Datura, the Dahlia and the "tortured Bonsai rose".
ReplyDeleteYour garden might well thrive on "freebies" and bargain-bucket throwaways, but that's a canny way to do it - as I mentioned when it was our turn, we have a fantastic rose that was taken from a cutting overhanging a fence in the dreadful sink estate where my current office is based; and let me loose on a flower show, and I'll have a bag-full of goodies!
I'm thrilled to see you managed to get the Lobster Flower to grow in the UK. I want to try it here because apparently its stench sees off the cats and other vermin. How the hell you got it through customs from Spain is a miracle, since it does tend to smell of marijuana (or at least someone who has smoked a spliff and followed it with a meal laden with garlic, anyhoo)!
That fuchsia's Waltz Jubelteen, by the way - we have one, but find the pink is a bit "variable". Sometimes it veers towards salmon, which just isn't right.
Jx
PS Your garden centre stocks some hideous "ornaments"!
Thank you Jon. I knew it was something with jubilee in it, that's the trouble when taking cuttings in garden centres you don't stop to take notes.
ReplyDeleteI think the lady golfer statuette would make an ideal gift for a lesbian couple on their wedding day. You are right about the hideous ornaments what's that wooden thing going for 40 quid? Coletta and Tyson and Klondyke Strikes are my local garden centres the latter sounds like the type of establishment frequented by lesbians in search of lady golfer statuettes.
The Brugmansia was also a cutting I took from Spain, I just rolled the end of it in some dampened toilet paper and stored it in my sponge bag for the flight home, very fast growers.
Mine on Sunday? TODAY? Eek...I'm still jet-lagged!
ReplyDeleteYep, it's now today here. Although it'll be another 2.5 hours before yours is up, Dinah - you've got time for a nap or two.
DeleteFabulous.
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree with taking cuttings where ever you can, sowing seeds, resurrecting plants form the 'all but dead' shelf and torturing plants to make them grow as you wish, Bonsai, standards, espalier, topiary etc.
I like fuchsia Waltz Jubelteen because it has semi upright flowers. I have fond childhood memories of Mesembryanthemums too, (are they the ones that open and close with the sun?). Brugmansias/datura and Dahlias are a joy and I agree with you on Coleus neochilus (lobster flower) love the plant but hate the smell.
Lovely to have a potter about in your garden and hope you had a lovely holiday.
PS. Your Lesbian golfer has a distinct look of Greta Thunberg about her
Ttfn.
Thank you Madam Arcati. It was the erectness of the Waltz Jubelteen that attracted me to it. Yes, the Mesembryanthemums do open and close with the sun, no change there, I used to think they were magical when I was a nipper, how easily pleased we were in those days. I might make a visit to Hornsea garden centre during the week to see if she is still available, I'm thinking of creating a lesbian corner, with a lady golfer statuette and with the number of bastard cats that come and go throughout the day should keep them happy. I don't know what else attracts lesbians, perhaps a dry stone wall?
ReplyDeleteBirkenstocks. Jx
DeleteThank you Mr Device for putting on a lovely spread, you've done me proud.
ReplyDeleteIt was my pleasure, Mitzi! As well as your thriving greenery and money-saving tips, your captions never fail to amuse me.
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